A look inside the guestbooks of Château Lafite Rothschild and Viña Los Vascos.
From Pauillac to Chile, the guestbooks of Château Lafite Rothschild and Viña Los Vascos trace seventy years of shared memories, warm smiles, and whimsical sketches.
Your eyes are almost immediately drawn to them. They lie resting on a table or a sideboard. Thick pages bound in leather. The guestbooks of Château Lafite Rothschild and Viña Los Vascos are far more than mere collections of signatures. They are timeless records filled with messages, sketches, thank you notes, and bursts of emotion. Another way of telling the story of a place, through those who have truly experienced it.
The earliest volume begins in 1951. You open it as you would step into a cellar — almost with a whisper. The first pages are restrained, formal, bearing the signatures of diplomats and writers.
Over the years, the tone softens. Sketches begin to appear. So do jokes. A bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild suddenly sprouts legs and a nose, dashing off towards the future.
The drawing is by Henri d’Origny — better known for designing squares and scarves at Hermès than for giving wine bottles a life of their own.
There’s a silky, slightly tipsy sheep making the case for wine by praising the softness of its own wool. You’ll find ‘thank you’, ‘bravo’, and ‘this is incredible’ written in every language and every kind of script. Elegance flirts with humour on every page.
Some pages offer up fragments of music, scribbled in passing — a kind of score, written in the moment.
Next to these musical notes: ‘thank you — unforgettable’, or ‘Lafite is pure enchantment.’
In 1957, one guest wrote: ‘Since Château Lafite, I love France more than ever.’
And when it’s not just solitary words, it becomes a chorus of voices. From the 150th anniversary dinners to special occasions with the Club des Chefs des Chefs, and a visit from the band Muse — who left a flurry of kisses on the page — the guestbook becomes a joyful chronicle of shared intimacy. A place where wine isn’t simply tasted, but lived.
The pages speak of encounters, laughter — and silences too.
With its lined pages and red leather cover, it gets straight to the point — with warmth and intensity.
The same generosity flows through its pages, the same spontaneity in words and drawings.
Messages from across the globe — Chile, the United States, Spain, Germany, Colombia — intertwine like accents around a generous table. Hearts, grape clusters, bottles sketched freehand. And bursts of joyful praise: ‘¡Gracias!’, ‘¡Qué hospitalidad!’, ‘An oasis of peace and relaxation!’
Sometimes, it’s a single sentence that strikes a chord.
‘El calor de esta casa y de la familia creyendo que está llegando un cometa.’
One guest even slipped in a photo of an astronaut, signed and dedicated to Baroness Rothschild — as if, even at Los Vascos, one might just reach for the moon.
There are also intricate drawings, landscapes, and words that speak of gratitude — the joy of simply being there.
Some mention the team, the shared moments, the meals, the wines…but most of all, the atmosphere.
That elusive feeling you can’t quite describe — and never quite forget.
Across these two books, a collective sense of hospitality comes through.
Diplomats, artists, illustrators, lovers of wine and of words — all have left behind a spark of wit or a heartfelt note.
Like an exceptional vintage, this collection is best savoured slowly, with a smile…and a touch of nostalgia.
A FICTION OF THE FIRST DAY OF BARON JAMES DE ROTHSCHILD IN PAUILLAC
On September 7, 1868, Le Constitutionnel wrote: “Baron James de Rothschild has left Paris for Château Laffitte, Médoc, which he has just acquired.” After that? We asked the novelist and poet Bernard Chambaz to slip into the shoes – and mind – of the Baron.
For the wineries of Bordeaux, the 18th century was a tumultuous period. Marked by industrial development, inheritance disputes and a mix of truth and fiction, it was also the era when Château Lafite Rothschild and Château L’Évangile would step out of the shadows and into the public eye.